Make You Smile
by Detallista 257
Summary: ON HIATUS. It starts with a simple play for the Kamiki Festival and the mutual feeling of love. But with the strange and supernatural happenings rising terror in the city, the festival turns out to be the least of their problems. AU. AmmyXWaka. HIATUS.
1. His Smiles

**Summer Smiles**

_By Funky Editors 12_

Amaterasu was terribly jealous of Waka.

Well, not jealous, but first dead than to admit se admired the guy.

For starters he was captain of the boy's kendo club in Kamiki High School; he was fast, strong, smart and quite handsome; with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, pale complexion and a charming boyish smirk. With all those qualitys it was hard to resist him.

"Oh! Come on Ammy not you too!" Issun, her best friend, complained.

"Don't worry Issun, I have no feelings whatsoever for Ushiwaka" she said, in a boring tone while eating her bento "How many times do I have to reassure you?"

He blushed and _harrump_ed ending the conversation.

It was true, she didn't have feelings for Ushiwaka (or Waka for short) but it was something in the way he smiled that made her curious; well he didn't exactly smiled but grin in a cocky way with his friends or a boyish smirk that he used to charm teachers and female students, his smiles never reached his eyes: his eyes were always sad. Some people claim it was his smile, but Amaterasu knew better; she had seen his real smile. Many years ago, she couldn't pin-point the exact day, she remember that it had rain and the air was cool and the smell of wet dirt filled her nose, that her bike had fallen in to a huge puddle of mud and she fell with it, she remember feeling embarrassed for she was covered in mud from head to toe and she had lost on of her sandals; she had successfully recovered it from the puddle but then she noticed the state the her bike was in and the sight made her eyes swelled with tears.

Her bike was broken.

The front tire was twisted in an odd angle and the chain was broken in to small pieces, her bike; the precious bike her father had made for her from scratch; was wrecked beyond repair. So she wept and wept and wept for who know how long. She didn't care then who saw her, but someone eventually had. At first she didn't heard him approached, his foot steps muffled by the wet dirt, until he was right beside her, so close she could smell the soap from his skin, which she looked up.

Her yellow eyes met his dark blue ones.

Then it was the first time she had ever seen him smile a friendly, innocent, happy smile. She couldn't help, despite the overwhelming sadness she felt, to smile back. She shook her head, stooping that train of thought, why did she cared all of the sudden? It was none of her business, if the guy didn't smile then so what? But then, why did she feel sad?

**Please forgive my misspelling and grammar. LOOKING FOR BETA READER!!!!!**


	2. Favors in Black Mails

**Favors in Black Mails.**

"You're okay?"

"I think so…"

If she had bothered to looked up, she would have seen his lips twitching in to a smile, though he tried to suppress it, but he manage to disguise his laugher in to something similar to a cough. Honestly she looked downright ridiculous there, down on the floor covered in mud and that innocent looked in her golden eyes-he managed to suppressed his smile by then-, was so funny and cute he almost laugh again…wait, cute!? Girls aren't cute, there annoying and full of koodies, yuck! But when he saw the broken bike a few feet away from her and the tears on her mud cake face he felt instantly concerned.

"What happened?" he asked, and he instantly regretted it. Her lips curved downwards as bottom lip started to tremble and tears spilled from her red shot eyes.

"I f-fell…" she said and then she started bawl. Waka cringed at the sound, one of the things he hated the most was seeing a girl cry: tears mean that something was wrong and a nearby grown would assume he made her cry and scold him, and the last thing he wanted was trouble, so he did something his mother used to do when he was younger. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a blue handkerchief and he knelt close to her face, his knees instantly covered in mud, and he handed her the piece of cloth.

The little girl looked up; her eyes flicked from the handkerchief to his face, confused. "Don't cry," he said. He smiled in hopes of cheering her up.

"Here, wipe your tears." The golden eye girl took the handkerchief and smiled, her perfect pearly white teeth contrasted sharply with the mud on her face. "Thank you…"

"Waka, are you listening?"

The voice startled him from his daydream; he blinked away the sudden sleepiness from his eyes and looked up to the person he was talking too; or better said, talking to him. His dark blue eyes met her black eyes that looked like two small polish stones, more alike now with her irritation. He offered her a sheepish, if not cautious, grin realizing that, hey, you know, this girl could be dangerous if angered, let's be cautious here.

"…err, I'm sorry would you mind repeating yourself?" he said.

Himiko, president of the student body in Kamiki High School and one of Waka's many friend's, rolled her eyes. "I was saying if you would like to come to the festival? Please Waka I'm begging here!" she said. The blond student raised and thin blond eyebrow at her sudden outburst. "You mean like a date" he asked. He dodged-just barely- Himiko's hand bag that was aimed for his head.

"No! You idiot, you weren't listening at all right?" she said, exasperated. He shook his head. "Look, the annual Kamiki Festival is just a few days away and the student who was going to do the part of the Moon Tribe prophet suddenly said that he couldn't do it. So I'm asking you to do this part." Waka frowned; he had heard about the school doing a play but he never had any intention in participating; besides he had other things to worry about right now.

"Why the sudden interest for school plays?" he asked.

"A friend of mind is in the play and I own her favor, besides I think this character really suits you 'cause you always come and go as you please."

"And who is this friend of yours? Someone I know?" Himiko raised a delicate black eyebrow. "Does really matter?" he grunted in agreement.

"So are you gonna do it or not?"

"No." He said "But Waka! The prophet is an important part in the story; they can't just remove him because there are no actors!"

He shrugged. "Look for someone else but don't include me in this." He said, without waiting for her response he grabbed his school bag and was about to leave but Himiko got a hold of his sleeve and gave a sharp tug towards her, he turned to face her; irritated and a little confused by her actions; and shot his best glare "What?" He asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance he felt from his voice.

"If you don't willingly do this I'll have to force you." The dark hair beauty said.

The blond student snorted "Force me eh? Well my dear friend…" he took a step closer, there chest barely touching and looked down in to her black eyes, Waka was a head taller than Himiko and stronger than her by much but there was no hesitation in her face and she stood tall and firm against him, like a Queen in the face of the most deplorable enemy. "…I would like to see you try." He smirked, the girl smirked back.

"Very well, don't say I didn't warn you." She reached for her handbag and opened it.

* * *

"I, Amaterasu-o-kami, origin to all that's good and mother to us all, shall stop you and put an end to your rule of terror!"

"Then try to strike me if you can!" with a battle cry, the paper snake head jumped at the white hair girl, who quickly step out away from the attack, then she pull the golden rosary that hung from her neck and started using it like a whip and gently struck the paper snake, in response the creature gave a over-dramatically howl of pain.

"STOP!"

Both the snake and the white hair girl froze in mid strike, "Orochi! What the heck is wrong with you, the screaming comes after Amaterasu bring downs your barrier! You're immune remember?" said Issun, practically pulling his dark ebony hair from his roots and closed his green eyes in frustration.

A boy with dark hair came out of the dragon suit, "Upps, my bad…" he said. "Should we try it again?" Issun sighed and rub his temples; he could feel a major headache on its way.

The girl, who stood quite during the conversation, said "Maybe we should take a little brake, I mean, we been rehearsing all day and besides," she face the young man sitting whit his head between his knees, "the 'director' could use a short brake."

"Thanks Ammy" he said, he was still in the same position so his response was slightly muffled.

The students who were present heaved a sigh of relief. They were all tired and stressed and not just them, the entire city of Kamiki was feeling the same thing too with the upcoming festival: the 500 anniversary since the dreaded Orochi, the eight-headed demon, was slain; though nowadays people didn't really believe in that legend anymore and over the years the festival turn into something of more a touristic attraction then a celebration. People from all over Nippon would come to Kamiki for the festival, the hotels, restaurants and shrines were on their full capacity in that time of the year.

First people would come to the Moon cave, the place where the legend took place, to get purify and pray to the sword that was enshrine there; some people would go to the shrine dedicated to the wolf god Amaterasu, the main character in the legend. After that it was all celebration and cheer.

Then where thus Kamiki High School fits in all this? Well, every year volunteer students would gather and decide what to do in the festival and for what purpose; for example, make a festival of its own and the money gather would be donated to a hospital or school. This year they decided to do a play of the legend of the wolf goddess and her adventures, written and edited by the student themselves, the money raise would be donated to the temple of said god and they had gotten permission to do the play in the shrine.

But there were two problems: Issun was an exigent director and some students got fed up with him and left, but thankfully his best friend Amaterasu (or Ammy, as Issun called her) manage to convince most people to stay and she usually keep him check; but sadly one important part of the cast wouldn't come back, no matter how persuasive Amaterasu was: The person who did the part of the Moon Tribe prophet, an important character in the story who intervened in the-goddess-turn-wolf quest whit his prophecies that told her what to expect in the future. Even if they found someone who could do the part there was no way somebody could memorize the lines on time, for the only had a few days left before the play.

So, you see, they were a little desperate especially Issun.

"If this wasn't such a well known story maybe we could get away with deleting him, but his part is well know and sort of respected. We need a heck of a miracle to get out of this one," he said "or were finish."

The golden eye girl grinned mischievously beside him "Be careful what you wish for, or it may happen!" Amaterasu said-the rehearsal was over for the day and they were on the bus stop waiting for the bus to take them home-Issun gave her a confused look. "I told Himiko about it and she said she would do what she can."

Issun's green eyes opened wide in surprise "Hi-Himiko!? How the heck did you get a favor from her? She is impossible to talk too, much less get a favor from her!" he said.

"Well, it's a curious story, want to hear it?" she played with a lock of her ebony hair, like what she had said wasn't a real big deal.

"Duh!" he eagerly answered, but not as surprised as he was before. Amaterasu was the luckiest person he had ever meet, she was always eager to help someone even if the person was a complete stranger, but what really confused him was that besides the usually thank you she would sometimes receive a small gift from them or, in cases like these, favors.

"Lunch break was about to end, so I was leaving when I heard a rustling from the bushes, curious I follow the noise and there was Himiko on her knees, looking from left to right and around searching for something 'What're you doing?' I asked and she practically jump to her feet, 'Nothing' she said, I think, she said it so low I could hardly catch it so I offered her my help and she accepted."

"What was the thing you were looking?" he asked.

"It was some kind of a pendant, but it looked more like a glass marble, no bigger than the palm of my hand with a yellow bow tied around it. She was so thankful when I found it she asked me if I need it anything, then I started to tell her about the play and how we needed an extra actor for the play, she said that she knew the perfect person for the part and she would talk to him first thing." She said, her broad smile never faltered but instead it grew into full laugher.

"Ammy, what would I do without you?" Issun said, he could feel the same laugher growing inside of him and he didn't bother to contain it.

So there they were laughing like two idiots for no reason as the sun said its goodbye for the day, for now they enjoyed their lives with no pressure like the teenagers they were.

* * *

He stood frozen, utterly speechless and shocked, that for a moment he forgot how to breathe, but the girl in front of him was calm and composed; her black eyes glimmered with satisfaction and smugness, pleased with his reaction, a smile stretched on her lips. Though he hated to admit it, she got him right where she wanted. But that didn't mean he would simply obey her like a dog in a leash.

"So here's the deal," she said. "You will do your part in the play, without complain, and you will have this thing back." She wiggled the object in front of her, "If you refuse, then you can kiss it goodbye."

"Where did you found it?" he asked, his voice cracking in the middle like he just been punch in the stomach.

She suddenly found the sun far more interesting then there conversation. "Isn't it beautiful" she said "No matter how many times I see a sunset it never stops to amaze me, so pretty and melancholic."

"Where did you found it!?" he asked again with a little more force in his words; how dare she!? The thing she was holding was not a toy; if she knew what it was she wouldn't have it so near her, he knew he didn't.

"You are so careless Waka, you just dump you're bag like its trash and ran off leaving it there for anybody to grab and look what is inside" she said, talking like she was talking to a five year old, Himiko shook her head. "I didn't know you played an instrument, maybe you could play to me sometime?"

He clenched his fist to contain his anger and resisted the urge to punch her in her pretty mouth; it would be a shame to ruin her little porcelain face with a nasty purple bruise and besides he consider himself a gentleman, he took a deep breath before answering. "Himiko, that thing is not a toy; give it back before you hurt yourself."

Himiko turned to face him, "Do you think I'm stupid Waka? What harm could a little flute do?" Waka took a step a closer and looked straight into her eyes, his face smooth from emotion but the seriousness in his eyes made her gasp.

"Things are not what they seem," he simply said.

A couple of heartbeats later the young man pulled away from the blushing, and slightly flustered, girl. She quickly gathered herself though the blush was still on her cheeks. "Just say you will participate in the play and once is over you can have it back," She said. Waka stood silent, thinking and weighted his options in his mind.

"You won't change your mind about this?" she shook her head. He looked at her determine face then at the wooden flute she was holding and finally he sighed in defeat "Where do I sign up?"

He damned his ancestors to the deepest pit of hell and cursed that little friend of Himiko's. She would pay hell for it.


	3. Remember me?

**Remember me?**

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Kamiki, it was spring time too, and almost all the cherry blossoms were blooming, white clouds that dotted in the horizon contrasted sharply with the sky that it was a beautiful blue that is rare to find these days; though the weather wasn't exactly pleasant, the heat was at least bearable if you were used to it in some way, as the citizens wore light summer clothes and protected their faces with caps and sun glasses from the glare of the sun.

But the weather didn't match Waka mood, still angry and resentful from the events of yesterday, and wasn't pleased at all when the source off all his discomfort waltzed through his house like it was no big deal. Her hair tied in an unusual ponytail (she usually had it down), she wore faded blue jeans, a pink thank top and tennis shoes. After forcing Waka out of bed and ordered him to 'change in to something decent', he decided to wear army green khaki shorts, a plain white cotton t-shirt and black sandals, he hid his face and hair with a baseball cap and sun glasses.

Himiko wasn't entirely pleased with his choice of clothes but didn't complain about it, she did however criticize his lack of enthusiasm and how his sour attitude could blow everything they had done so far. Waka pointed out that he could care less if he got the part or not since he never agreed to this in the first place, in fact, he would be more than glad if he didn't get the part; so, in a few words, the conversation escalated into a full heated argument and it could have continue all day long until Himiko finally noticed the clock hanging on the wall, just behind Waka.

Quarter after eight, they were fifth teen minutes late for their "casting" so to speak, she grabbed her hand bag, the arm of the blond youth and speed out the door in 7 seconds flat, with a string of curses and profanities that is not proper to mention in this story scorching the air in her awake.

Waka's mood didn't improve on the way to the School, he silently sulked all the way, glaring at people behind his sunglasses who dared to looked his way and politely ignored Himiko's attempt of small talk, looking away and cursing his bad luck. The dark haired girl never let go of his arm, her grip tight enough he could see the white of her knuckles and feel how his arm throbbed in protests; to add to his anger, some people turned to stared at them with knowing glances and mischievous smiles, this caused Waka to, unintentionally, blush in embarrassment and anger.

Finally they made it to school in record time, now twenty minutes late to their agreed time. Only then Waka removed his sunglasses and cap.

"Waka, hurry up!" she said, almost to herself she added softly, "I hope she still there…"

"I would go faster, if you could let go of my arm," he said.

She complied, releasing her death grip on his forearm; the spot where she had grabbed was sore and slightly throbbing. He briefly considered to run for it, but the thought went away as quickly as it came; the auditorium was too far from any exit in the school and Himiko was walking beside him like an escort close, enough that she could grabbed him in case he run away.

How did he get himself into this in the first place? Why him? All he wanted was the flute back; it was something his mother gave to him and according to her a family heirloom.

"What I'm giving you Waka, is something that my father, your grandfather, was given to him by his own father and so on," she said. She put on the table a small rectangular wooden box, simple and faded with age.

"It's your turn to have it." She gesture the box the blond boy reached for it and opened it with trembling fingers.

The moment he laid eyes on the flute, his life was never the same…

Then something bumped into him, something cold and wet, followed by a shriek. He felt the cold drink soaking the material of his shirt and touching his skin, not that the drink was really cold, but the mere surprise of it made him yelped.

"Oh god!" someone said, by the sound of the voice he guessed it was female, "I'm so sorry!" She apologized, no trace of fake or polite worry in her voice. He studied the damage done to his shirt, a light brown stain that smelled like coffee. He looked up, a retort ready at his tongue and the anger he had bottle up inside him all day ready to burst; a small part of him told him that maybe he was overreacting, the other part, the one he agreed on, didn't care.

"Hey! What's the matter with you!" he retorted, the girl visually flinched at his words but looked up to him; her expression change from worry to annoyed, her lower lip was formed in to a pout, her warm golden eyes on fire and she tightened her hold of the paper cup half filled of what was left of the ice coffee.

"I said I was sorry, no need to get so moody," she said like she was talking to an angry child. A child she wasn't fond of.

Before Waka could answer Himiko was suddenly by his side, or rather in between they're heated glares, and she smiled pleasantly to the golden eye girl. "I apologize for my…partner's behavior," she said, elbowing hard at his ribs. "Amaterasu, this is the person I was talking about his name is Waka and he will be so glad to help you in the play," she said.

Amaterasu gasped, her eyes widening like saucer pans, her mouth hanging open anime style as she hesitantly pointed a finger at him, her golden eyes meeting his own blue ones. "Him?"

"Yes, him," the dark haired beauty said in the same pleasant way. "I promise you he will be in his best behavior if he doesn't, don't hesitated to tell me right away," taken aback by her response Amaterasu only nodded; her gaze flickering from Waka to Himiko.

'Is she his mother or something…' she thought, slowly wondering if this was good idea; Issun, her best friend, was known to be big mouthed person and he wasn't afraid to say what he had on his mind. He was a pretty friendly guy for the most part, even funny, but for some reason unknown to her he loathed Waka in every sense of the word, and the little guy was the director so he made most of the important decisions like who is in the play and who's not; and there was a big (humongous) chance that Issun would totally be against the idea.

In her mind she imagined the worst case scenario: the auditorium on fire, Waka and Issun in the hospital with bandages covering them like mommies shooting heated glares at each other… definitely not a good idea; as much as she appreciated Himiko's help having him and Issun in the same place for two hours a day was a recipe for disaster.

"Himiko, thank you so much for the offer but-"

"Oh, would you look at the time!" Himiko said loudly, looking at her wrist watch with a surprise look. "Got to run!" before Waka or Amaterasu could stop her she was already gone from sight.

* * *

"She's pretty fast, that girlfriend of yours," Amaterasu said, after Himiko had left Amaterasu took Waka to the bathroom at the back of the auditorium's stage to clean his shirt. She leaned against the wall next to the door and the blond man was inside the bathroom, scrubbing his shirt in the sink.

He paused his actions before resetting them. "She's not my girlfriend," he said.

"Oh, really, then is she your sister?"

"No."

"Then she's your friend."

"Well we're not exactly friends, she is more like…an acquaintance than a friend."

Amaterasu didn't buy his excuse but didn't pry; it was none of her business, she hardly knew him then much less now, when life and time had obviously change the little boy she met that summer into this grumpy and sad person, to boot she blew her chances today with ice coffee, ice coffee!. She groan as she closed her eyes and rubbed her throbbing temples.

'What else could go wrong?' she thought.

"Hey, are you OK?" Waka asked. She could hear the sound of the hand blow drier full blast from the inside of the bathroom, "you got quiet all of the sudden."

"Umm I got nothing to a… say, I got nothing to say." She was about to say 'ask' but stopped herself, it wouldn't have sounded right if she had.

Waka was quiet for a moment, analyzing her words before answering. "I don't think that's true," Amaterasu shot him a confuse look, not that he could he see it. "I think you got plenty to say."

"Don't we all," she said sarcastically.

Waka laughed, "Touché darling."

They both shared a quiet laugh as a comfortable silence settled around them. Strangely enough, they felt comfortable in each other presence, then Amaterasu remembered why she had seek his company in the first place, she enjoyed this feeling of tranquility and…peace was the way to describe it; that summer when he helped her with the bike they hadn't talk much on the way, they felt no need for words or introductions, so when they arrived at her home he said his goodbyes like he had know her all his life and left.

She didn't found out about his name until way after the incident but even after being in the same school for so many years they hardly spoke to each other, just a few glances at the hallway at the end of each period and at lunch. Not that they were lone wolfs or something, they just moved in different social circles and both lock away in their own worlds and problems.

'Actually,' she thought, 'I didn't start thinking about him until I started doing this play…'

Then the object of her thoughts emerged from the bathroom, his white shirt back to its whiteness but slightly wrinkled and wet from the treatment. In his anger he didn't notice much of the girl except for her face but now it surprised him how incredibly simple she dressed (he was used to his mother's extravagant way of dressing even when there was no social event to attend): she wore a red T-shirt, white shorts and flower theme sandals, her semi-long hair in a lose pony tail.

"If you want to I can give you a new shirt, we got tons in the dressing room," she said, eyeing the shirt with some remorse. "And um…sorry, I should have been more careful."

"No, no it's OK," he said, looking away. "…I should be the one apologizing…" he said, so softly that Amaterasu didn't heard it.

The blond noticed that how quiet it was…in fact he only saw a few teachers and janitors on his way to the auditorium, besides that the only student he had seen was her. Where were the others? Shouldn't they be here by now?

"The actors?" Amaterasu said, after Waka had voiced his thoughts."Well, practice doesn't start until nine thirty."

"Eh!? Nine thirty!" he said, she nodded.

"…Then what are you doing here?"

"Himiko thought it would be a good idea to look over your lines with me." She pulled out a script from a bag he hadn't noticed before and handed it to him. He grabbed it, on the cover of the script in bold capital letters it said: Okami by Issun Boshi. Wait…Issun…that name sounded familiar…

"Um…Amaterasu…"

"Please call me Ammy," Ammy dragged a pair of plastic chairs behind her. "Amaterasu is too formal."

"Right, Ammy what's your part in the play?" He sat in one of the chairs Ammy had offered him trying to start some kind of conversation with her.

"…I'm Okami Amaterasu," she toyed with a red plastic bracelet in a bored matter. Not meeting his eyes.

Waka raised an eye brow, "Into puns much." She laughed.

"Oh, not me but Issun, he thought it was hysterical when I decided to play the lead role." She looked away as she narrowed her golden eyes and her lips formed into a lovely pout (he thought it was lovely, other people may had founded childish) "but I don't know why he found it so funny, there is at least like eight other Amaterasu's in the school."

"You are the only Amaterasu with the eyes that resembles the goddess," he said as a matter of fact. "I think that the name suits you."

She blushed, a rosy pink staining her pale cheeks as she looked at anything but him. Suddenly the doors burst open with a loud bang and the person Ammy dreaded the most at the moment walked in; looking angry and displease, his gaze flickered from Ammy's alarmed face to Waka's confused look, the intruder's expression darkened (if possible) after seeing the blond one. A tense silence felled on the trio; one extremely displeased, the second alarmed and shock, the third confused and feeling somehow out of place.

'The only thing shorter than his height…'

"Issun please be reasonable…"

"I don't want him in my play Ammy! What part of 'no' don't you understand!?"

'…Is his temper.'

"Come on!" she said, slapping her hands on the surface of the table with a loud smack."We need him and you know it!"

They been discussing like this for what it seem like an eternity, at least for Waka, in some janitors closet that smelled like humidity and dust, making him sneeze once in a while, where the three barely fitted. Issun sat on a moth bitten chair that groan and squeaked every time he moved, between him and Ammy was a simple four leg table that had seen better days and wasn't taking Ammy's treatment well, he could have sworn he heard a loud 'crack' with her last slap. All the while he hadn't said a word, they were so engross in their conversation that Waka could have left without them noticing, in fact they seem they had forgotten he was there.

Issun groaned and closed his eyes, scratching the top of his messy dark hair; he was angry and he felt somewhat betrayed, she knew just how much he hated Ushiwaka, then what the heck was he doing here!? Did the heat fry her brains or something!

But, as much as he hated to admit it, her golden eye friend was right. He was desperate for any kind of help even if it came from his sworn enemy. He took a deep breath, looked up at Ammy's hopeful gaze and sighed.

"…Oh right," he said in defeat, Ammy's face lit with joy and relief as she turned to Waka who gave her a smile. "But under two conditions," both teenagers faced him with a confused look.

He slowly lifted a finger in front of his face. "One, you will have to come to rehearsal every single day, weekends included," he said then he lifted a second finger. "Two…" He was cut off by the sound of voices outside the closet, giggles, voices and laugher echoed through the walls as the trio stood silent. Ammy, though deeply curious of what the second condition was, decide it was the moment to leave and ask Issun or Waka later. She gave a brief glance to both of the males before closing the door behind her with a soft 'click'.

Only when Ammy's steps disappeared down the hall that Issun spoke. "The second condition," he said slowly. His green eyes holding the gaze of the blond one, "Is that once the play is over, you never talk to Ammy again."

He raised an eyebrow. "You seem a little warm under the collar my bouncing friend," he casually said, Issun gritted his teeth as his left eye twitched "What's wrong? Did I hit a nerve?"

"Listen you half baked fruit cake! Ammy was perfectly fine until a few days ago she started wooing and sighing your name every five minutes," Issun said. His hands balled up into fist and glaring at Waka, "I don't know what you did to her but I don't like it one bit."

He chuckled. "Oh I didn't do anything my friend, and you see we have a little history together," the short boy froze as his green eyes widened.

"…!?" Issun was quite, not getting the meaning of his words but before he could ask what he meant Waka had closed the door with a soft 'click', his steps echoed through the silent hall way. He smiled, imagining what kind of chaos the little guy's head was in now trying to decipher his words. But a small part of him wished half of his words were true, that there was really some secret and profound relationship with her, so then he could have some claim over her. But he didn't, he was just the little boy she met that summer, if he was lucky enough that she remembered that much.

'But,' he thought, as he waved to Amaterasu. 'I'm determined to change that,' she waved cheerfully back.


	4. Life in Pink

**Life in Pink**

The rehearsal had been very eventful that day, there was a lot of activity going on since there were only five days left before the festival, not just in the school but the whole town was buzzing with activity. The streets were crowed with people and vehicles, in part she was glad that she couldn't drive yet; she could only imagine how stressful it would be to be stuck in such traffic.

In school, all of the students were rehearsing with their costumes. By then everyone already knew their lines by heart and what to do during the show. It worried Ammy that Waka wouldn't catch up in time, they been rehearsing for months now, could he do it in a week? She eyed the tick script with guilt and sighed. If worst comes to worst, Issun would have to do the part of the Prophet, Ammy thought. He is the only one who knows all the lines.

"Ammy?" a voice interrupted her musings; she looked up at the blue eyes of the replacement actor and blinked in surprise.

"Are you alright?" Waka ask, "You space out all of the sudden."

"O-oh I'm alright, I tend to space out a lot," Ammy said. "It's no big deal."

Waka nodded in understanding and didn't ask more. By then Issun was having trouble finding the blonds costume. He gave up his backpack and shoved it under the plastic chair. Waka craned round to watch him in a mystified way. Issun took a box from the closet and opened it, after rummaging in it he took another one and repeated the same process. Then, after a thought, he left the room and came back twenty minutes later with another box. But alas it wasn't there either. He asked the other two teenagers to help him look around the auditorium, if it wasn't in the storage room it could be somewhere back stage.

Ammy followed his indications and soon enough found the outfit, hanging from a rack and took it without hesitation back to the storage room. When she walked in, the two boys were in the same place she had left them; glaring at each other as a tense silence filled the room. Ammy sighed. '_They are worst than kids!'_ Ammy thought.

She cleared her throat loudly and when she had the male's attention she said: "If you are done killing each other, Waka, please try the costume on," she said with a sugar coated smile but her voice was lace with irritation and her golden eyes betrayed her hidden annoyance, a menacing aura surrounded her.

Issun and Waka gulped and nodded, not wanting to annoy the dangerous female. Her anger caught Waka by surprise; she had been so sweet and nice to him this morning, he remembered fondly the blush that dusted her cheeks and the witty comments they had shared, before Issun storm in of course. Apparently he was spying them from behind the door and was watching what was going on inside, what had spiked this sudden anger? Obviously he was overprotective of Ammy and Issun never like him from day one. He probably thought he was going to corrupt her or something like that.

The faired head took the costume and went behind the door to change; five minutes later he came back wearing the set of clothes he was giving. Both Ammy and Issun jaws fell to the floor, staring at Waka with surprise and wonder.

From the begging he reminded them of the character, at least physically, but now with the costume the resemblance was shocking. All that was missing was his sword and flute.

"Wow!" said Ammy, admiration flaring in her golden eyes. "You look just like the prophet; it's amazing, almost surreal! Oh, just imagine the public reaction when they see you, right Issun?"

"Y-yeah," said Issun, still a little dumbstruck. He hated to admit it but he was …glad to have him in the play; but that didn't mean that he wasn't in danger yet of being kick out of the play, oh no, if he dare to make a move on Ammy he would personally cut off his arm and feed it to him. He chuckled at the sadistic image that formed in his mind.

Meanwhile Ammy did some measurements on the fair-haired; the pink shirt was too big for him, fortunately the purple pants and the red sandals fit him fine. The grey eagle helmet sat perfectly in his head, covering most of his hair and only a few bangs made its way out of the helmets hold.

Ammy wrote down Waka's measurements in her notebook and then, with the pins that were in her bag, started pining the fabric, being careful not to pin the human mannequin. Issun wasn't so careful, he purposely pin the blond whenever Ammy wasn't looking. It didn't hurt very much but the sharpness of the tool made him flinch every time. He wanted to punch Issun so bad, he even clenched his fist and was almost ready to deliver the blow. But he did not quite dare. Instead he gave a cocky smile and stare at Issun like if he wasn't more that the dirt under his feet. '_I dare you to try that again'_, his eyes seemed to say.

Issun answered with a smug expression of his own. '_With pleasure'_, he thought.

"Ok that should do," Ammy's voice interrupted trough the silent quarrel. "You can take off the costume now."

* * *

When Ammy was on stage: she was amazing.

Kushi didn't know Ammy that much but she could see that Ammy was a talented actress. Her voice boomed with confidence when she talked, her movements would be agile and graceful and the bamboo sword would dance in her hands like a puppet. Kushi sometimes wondered if the golden eye girl took the part too seriously. She would turn from the goofy and funny girl that everyone knew to this serious, fearsome warrior that nobody recognize. She then looked at the other girl who was on stage with Ammy, the poor girl appeared very nervous and started to stutter her lines. Suddenly Ammy's serious expression drop and turned into that of an encouraging one, in turn the girl relaxed and stop stuttering.

The rest of the rehearsal went smoothly after that and soon Kushi lost interested. She swept her gaze around the auditorium until she stopped in a face she didn't recognize. What caught her attention at first was his unusual long blond hair; very few people in Kamiki had blond hair and he stood out like a sore thumb there. Her theory was confirmed when a group of girls started to giggle in the background, casting shy glances at him when he wasn't looking.

Kushi rolled her eyes at this and suppressed the urge to throw up. She knew those girls well enough to say that they were faking their shyness, only playing innocent to attract attention. Kushi was genuinely interest in this boy and decided to make her move; she approached him quietly and sat on the empty seat to his right. She turned her head with a smug grin on her face and shot the girls a dirty look, the girls huffed and turned on their heel and left quietly. The blond, who never realized the quiet exchange between females, turned to see whoever had sat next to him and he was greeted with a friendly smile from Kushi.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked. Her voice was sweet, with a hint of kindness and innocence he found cute.

"No, it's not," Waka said politely.

They both stopped talking and watched the rehearsal in silence. The girl looked at the blond from the corner of her eye; all of his attention was on the play and on a certain actress. Oh, she recognize that look all to well, it was so obvious: he had a crush on Ammy. Like half of the other boys in this room to. Ammy always had a small group of admirers, which tripled in number ever since she took the leading role, making a lot of girls jealous and a stream of nasty rumors spread like wild fire. But strangely enough Ammy never notice the rumors, maybe she didn't know about them or choose to ignore them.

"Impressive," Kushi turned her head so fast she got dizzy.

"What?" she asked. Waka acknowledge her by leaning towards Kushi and said in a low voice as to not interrupt the play.

"The way she moves, it can't be just simple acting," Waka said. Kushi leaned closer, facing the stage and looked closely at the golden eye girl. At first she thought she was dancing, then it hit her, she wasn't dancing: she was fighting! Her golden eyes were sharp and piercing, closely watching the slightest movement of her opponent. She responded quickly with a blow from her sword, a side step or blocking the incoming attack with her shield.

"You're right," Kushi said, eyes wide with surprise. "She isn't acting: she is fighting! But how did you know?"

"I'm captain of the Kendo club," Waka said. If possible, her eyes grew wider.

"Y-you mean, your Captain Waka, the youngest Kendo captain in the history of Kamiki High!" Kushi said. The blond smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"That means you're in junior year?" he asked. The girl nodded.

"Yes, I am, but don't worry I'm actually glad that you are captain. Thanks to you we might get chance to compete in nationals!" the dark hair girl said.

And she was right, before Waka came to Kamiki High, the team was a real disaster, they weren't in any shape at all, what they did in practices was just talk and ogle the girls in the track team. When Waka saw this he told the teachers at first but they didn't do anything about it, if the club were to dissolve they could use the money for other activities. But Waka did something totally unexpected: he challenged the captain; a tall and bulky boy named Reiji. Everyone was sure Waka was going too loose, compared to Reiji, Waka was a weakling and the former captain wouldn't hesitate to beat the crap out of him. To everyone's shook, the thin blond had won fair and square.

The audience went silence after Waka was declared the winner; the silence was followed by a loud boom of cheers and screams of joy. The aftermath was that a lot of boys who were still on Reiji's side left the team but a lot of applicants, who shared Waka's passion for Kendo, filled in their spots.

Waka scratch the back of his head, clearly embarrassed. Suddenly he felt a strange presence behind him, it was menacing and it made the small hairs on the back of his neck stand. He heard the girl next to him gasp.

"Susano!" she said, half surprise and half terrified. Susano was a tall boy, with strong, hairy arms and beard, only two years Waka's senior. You could appreciate the beginning of a bold spot on his head. His small dark eyes observe the scared girl with a mixture of rage and… evil was the only way to describe it.

"S-Susano, w-what are you d-doing here?" Susano didn't answer, without warning he seize the girl's small wrist and practically dragged her away. Kushi protested loudly but he paid her no mind. All of the sudden a thick script of rolled paper made contact with his face, hitting him hard. With a yell of pain, he let go of Kushi's wrist and clutched his face, then he glanced up at the one responsible: a blond boy standing protectively in front of Kushi, urging her to leave now that she had the chance, although reluctant of leaving the blond alone Kushi left. Susano took his chance of attacking and punched the distracted blond.

Waka fell to the ground with a thud, pain stinging his left cheek and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. By then students had gather around them, none of them dare to break up the fight, instead they screamed and cheered, some already taking pictures and videos with their cell phones, but Waka didn't notice all of this when he was suddenly hoisted in the air by the front of his shirt, staring at Susano straight in the eye. With his free arm, Susano clenched his fist again and was ready to strike, all Waka could do was close his eyes and mentally prepare himself for the incoming hit.

But instead of the painful strike, he heard the sound of another punch and the fist that held him in place dropped him. He opened his eyes and saw Ammy standing before him; from where he was laying all he could see was her back side and not her face. Susano was clutching his arm in pain; Waka noticed that it was the same arm that held him prisoner, glaring at the female in front of him.

"I think that's enough Susano," Ammy said in a calm voice.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, are you defending your boyfriend?" Susano said, talking for the first time since he got there.

The spectators burst out laughing, mocking the pair and making kiss noises. Ammy was glad that she couldn't blush but she felt a rush of heat coming from her neck, on the other hand Waka wasn't so lucky, he was considerably paler than Ammy and the rush of the blood to his cheeks was noticed by everyone present, making the taunting much worse for him.

Susano smirked; "Since your boyfriend can't fight me like a man why don't you fight me instead!" he turned towards the audience and said: "Tomorrow at sundown, in the old construction site, me against her, everyone's invited!"

Then all of the sudden, the doors of the auditorium were open and a big group of teachers came in, with Kushi and Issun not far behind. The students left the scene like it was on fire, exposing the three students in the middle of it all, the principal Yuima Masami, looked at the three with a severe expression and told them to meet her at her office.

* * *

Yuima Masami was usually a very calm person; the students of Kamiki High respected her and love her for being very kind and understanding. For Waka, it was the first time he had ever seen the calm director so furious, now she looked like the stereotypical principal, the one the movies portrayed as a bad guy. Contrary to Waka, Ammy and Susano where relatively calm like if they had seen this many times in the past, Waka didn't expect less of Susano but Ammy? He would never have picked her out as a criminal or a trouble maker.

"Susano and Amaterasu, I'm not impressed with your behavior and seeing the videos we confiscated I pretty much know what happened, but I want to hear everyone's side of the story." She said and motioned Ammy to start.

Ammy started from the beginning. She had been rehearsing with the other students who were still having trouble with their dialogue, when all of the sudden she heard screaming and cheering from the seats. Ammy left the stage with Issun to investigate what was happening, and then she saw Waka being hoisted in the air and Susano getting ready to punch him. She yelled at Issun to go and call the teachers to stop the fight and with the bamboo sword she had in her hand, she made her way to the crowd to defend her friend. The blond noticed that she didn't mention the part when Susano challenged her; it made Waka suspicious.

When she was done the Principal nodded and asked Waka to tell what he saw. He started from when he was talking to Kushi, then when Susano came and drag the terrified girl away for no reason, and lastly when Ammy came to his rescue. He too opted not to tell her about the challenge.

Without further to say, the principal asked them to leave, both students got off their seat and bowed, saying a low "thank you" and left. In the hall way they walked in silence, until the blond decided to break it.

"Ammy?" he asked. She turned her face slightly to his direction, meaning that she was listening. "Are you thinking of fighting him?"

The golden eye girl took a moment before answering, "If I don't go, he may do something much worse. I don't know what he is capable of but I can't take any chances."

Waka's eyes widened, "What? No, Ammy you can't possibly fight him! He could hurt you or-or…"

"Trust me," Ammy said with a confident smile. "I can take care of myself."

With that smile on her face, Waka full heartily believe her words.

* * *

"I'm home!" Waka called and close the door behind him, no one answered him. He didn't expect them to. Deciding that he was hungry he went to the kitchen, he looked in the stove and fridge for something to eat, in the end he settle for some cereal, juice and a bag of ice for his bruised cheek. His cheek didn't hurt that much now, it just hurt when it was touch, the only evidence there was of the fight was the purple bruise and the stretch out shirt he was wearing. The blond kicked off his shoes and turn on the television, flipping channels until he decided on Sponge Bob.

He was tired after all that happened and all he wanted was a nice nap, he was about to close his eyes and let the comfortable darkness embrace him but the ringing of cell phone interrupted his plans. With an annoyed groan he answered the phone. "What?"

"_Waka!" _said a voice; he recognized it as _Himiko's. "How did it go?" _

"It went OK, I guess," he said lazily and then took a bite of the, now soggy, cereal.

"_Oh, come on! I want details!" _half way across town, the dark hair beauty took a sip of her mineral water and absent minded look at the wooden flute laying on the other side of her bed.

She couldn't understand why such an antique was in his bag, it looked exactly like the flute in the legends, the way the wood was beautifully aged, the carving so perfect and smooth in her hand and the resistance of the material not easily breakable instantly caught her attention. In the back of her mind, she knew this wasn't any ordinary instrument so she took it without hesitation and safely put it in her bag, but what now? She recognized that such a treasure should have some important value, not just money wise, but personal value. Waka rarely showed any emotion, he always "smiled" his problems away and his eyes where like limousine windows, he could see out but you couldn't see in. Not knowing what he's thinking drove her nuts, literately.

Imagine her surprise when she saw his reaction towards Amaterasu, for the first time she saw a flicker of emotion in those blue eyes; surprise, shock and happiness all at the same time. An idea appeared in her mind, why not just kick back and relax and see where this was headed? It should be way better than any soap opera and maybe she would finally get a glimpse of Waka with real passion in his eyes.

On her computer screen, she saw she had a new message from one her classmates. She got up from her previous position in the bed and made her way towards the machine and absent minded read the contents of the e-mail. Her pink cell phone slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor.

"Himiko, Himiko! Hello, are you there? What happened?" a voice yelled at her. So absorb in her thoughts she completely forgot about the boy on the other side of the line, she quickly picked up the device, still shocked and disbelieved of what she just read.

"_Sorry, well if you want to I can come over and help you memorize your lines." _She offered. Waka was silent for a few seconds, weighing his options until he sighed in defeat.

"Fine, you can come over in half an hour, see you then."

"_Waka, wait! Is it true about the fight?" _she asked. The blond blinked in surprise.

"How did you found out so quickly?" Waka asked.

"_It doesn't matter, do you realize how serious this is! I'm worried about her." _Himiko said the last in a low voice.

"I don't understand, it just a fight, Ammy and Susano would just get a few days of detention." Waka said.

On the other side of the phone line, Himiko sighed in frustration, _"No, you big idiot! Do you even listen when I talk to you?!"_

"_Believe it or not, Ammy has a few black marks in her school record and apparently she was a real trouble maker in her previous school. Waka, if the principal were to hear about the fight she could be expelled."_

The reality of it hit him like a wall of bricks. That's why Ammy didn't mention the challenge to the principal, now he felt like an idiot; he should have said something in her defense. He was concerned at first of course, but she seemed so confident when she reassured him that she could handle it. That smile hid the severity of the situation and he fell for it. How could he have been so stupid!? She was in trouble and all for his sake. He had to do something, but what?

* * *

"Issun!" she grunted, "Get you're hands _off_!" Amaterasu said, irritated, pulling the plastic bag towards her.

Issun just grinned and promptly let go off the plastic bag. Amaterasu fell to the floor with a loud crash, Issun wasn't the least worried for his friend well being, he clutched his sides as peals of laugher fell from his mouth. Ammy got up form her position on the floor, with crumbs of chips and salt on her favorite red shirt, she glared daggers towards the short boy who was still trying to control his fit of giggles but to no avail.

"Hey, you said 'hands off' so I complied," Issun said once he had successfully controlled his fit of laugher. Ammy sighed and brushed away the crumbs out of her shirt, it wasn't in her nature to hold a grudge against someone (unless they really, really deserve it) and especially not Issun, they been friends for years and they easily forgive each other. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't get even with him.

"Yes I did say that but what are we going to eat now?" she asked and raised an eyebrow. Issun laughed and searched for the phone.

"Alright but you pay for the pizza," he said as he search for the pizza parlor number in the phone's memory.

"What! I paid for those chips, it's you're turn to pay for something mister!" she pointed an accusing finger at him and pouted; the short boy just snorted and mumbled an agreement. Ammy listened to the conversation with little interest, she answered when she was asked too but besides that she kept quiet because, obviously, her mind was else where.

'_Are you planning to fight him?'_

Of course she was, she wasn't scared, no, not at all, she was fine, and she could take care of herself. In fact she was so confident she didn't tell Issun, there was no need she thought. She would come back to his house tomorrow night all dirty, sweaty and maybe just a little bruise, Issun would start asking questions and she would answer with a confident smile and with a good excuse in her tongue.

Ammy absent minded flip channels while Issun finish ordering the pizza and then went to his room to do… something; whatever, she didn't care at the moment. Then she stumbled upon a Sponge Bob marathon and decided that this was better than what the other channels were showing, sadly she couldn't get herself to concentrate on the cartoon. Her mind was full with a certain blond boy.

Poor Waka, his first day of rehearsal and look what happened, she didn't know if she should either laugh or sigh. At least he got bruise to save someone else and she found that very heroic and noble, Ammy pushed those thoughts away and decided that she was watching too much Anime. Just when Sponge Bob was about to crack some joke, somebody knocked on the door. The golden eye girl, thinking that it was the delivery boy, took the money from the coffee table and opened the door.

She was greeted by not only one teenager but two were standing in her front door.

"Kushi, Waka? What are you doing here?"

**Sorry for the hiatus, I had to rewrite this chapter four times before I settled to this version. Love it? Hate it? Please Review! **


	5. The Author Note

Hey dear readers! I'm very sorry I haven't been able to update for so long, between life and writers block I haven't been able to write as much as I wanted to.

But don't worry this story ISNT GOING ON HIATUS! No, far from it, I'm going to REVISE the first chapters, chapter 1, 2 and 3 are going to go through some dramatic changes.

The story plot will remained the same but the first chapters will contain more detail about Ammy's and Waka's childhood and present, their families, friendships and character development. Some of you may think these changes aren't necessary but me, the author, feels that this is the best for the story in the hopes that it will make more interesting.

As a side note there could be more AmmyxWaka goodness~! (If you especially like Child!Ammy and Child!Waka, I feel you will love the revise version of the first chapters.)

Thank you everyone for your support and please review if you have any questions or comments about this.


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